1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle including a supercharger.
2. Description of the Related Art
A supercharger has been used in order to improve the engine power in vehicles such as snowmobiles and four-wheel vehicles. U.S. Pat. No. 7,198,127 discloses a snowmobile including a turbo-type supercharger that utilizes the energy of the exhaust gas from the internal combustion engine. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0102215 discloses a snowmobile including a mechanical supercharger that is driven by the crankshaft of the internal combustion engine.
A turbo-type supercharger needs to be integrated with the exhaust passage of the internal combustion engine so that the exhaust gas is used. This complicates the structure of the turbo-type supercharger and that of the internal combustion engine (including the exhaust passage). Moreover, the use of hot exhaust gas necessitates advanced thermal management, which may further complicate the structure of the turbo-type supercharger and that of the internal combustion engine.
With a supercharger driven by the crankshaft, the internal combustion engine needs to include a mechanism to link the crankshaft and the supercharger. This makes it necessary to specially design the internal combustion engine, and complicates the structure of the internal combustion engine.